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The Shorty: Age Appropriate

In case you haven’t heard by now, youth is not wasted on the young in professional golf these days. Jon Rahm, at age 22, became the ninth twentysomething to win in 12 events in the PGA Tour’s wraparound season.

And everyone in the know knew that Rahm’s maiden victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in the Southern California sunshine would come much sooner than a little later. Not to mention that contending for the title much of Sunday were Patrick Rodgers (24), Cheng Tsung Pan of Taiwan (25) and Tony Finau (27).

On the European Tour, Jeunghun Wang of Korea, at age 21, won his third event in the last nine months and is a burgeoning star in that part of the world. We are likely to see him at The Masters in April.

It’s no secret that young players – which include Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day – come out on Tour without feeling the necessity of paying any dues before winning. They believe that their dues were paid in full in college or on the Web.com Tour or any other of the developmental tours. They’re ready to win and now is as good a time as any.

Kind of like Tiger Woods used to do, except on a smaller scale. And at age 41, Tiger must feel absolutely ancient next to these people who probably look like children. In fact, these youngsters grew up as tots and juniors looking up to Tiger.

As for Tiger, he needs to discover the fountain of youth if he expects to compete with players who were toddlers when he was at his best. And it needs to be soon.